


we found love right where we are

by MsBluesunflower



Series: till the end of the aisle [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Equality, Pietro is not dead, SCOTUS Ruling, kinda Crack but not really, wedding fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 19:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4275525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsBluesunflower/pseuds/MsBluesunflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers and James Barnes aren’t exactly normal people, which is why Steve had to propose to Bucky on national television, in front of the President, on the day gay marriage is legalized in the United States.<br/>Their friends aren’t exactly normal people either, which is why they (specifically Iron Man) planned Captain America’s wedding to be on the Fourth of July.<br/>You can probably tell, it ain’t gonna turn out well.</p><p>Or, in which Steve and Bucky get married, but not in the way it was planned.<br/>(Sequel to 'we're looking for the sun'.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	we found love right where we are

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know. I missed Steve's birthday. But I'm posting it anyway because WHY NOT.  
> Also thanks to my amazing beta dancing-in-the-void (who basically made me finish writing it)

Steve has no idea why Pepper let Tony take over the planning of their wedding. They weren’t even going to do anything over the top. But once Tony comes into the picture, not going over the top becomes virtually impossible.

So Tony books the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf, finds the best chefs he knows, imports wine from France, Vodka from Russia, and Cigars from Cuba (Steve isn’t sure if that’s even legal), and invites every possible celebrity, politician and even the First Family. But the First Family can’t make it, sadly, because the date is set for July 4th.

Yes, that’s correct. Tony fucking Stark planned Captain America’s wedding to be on the Fourth of July.

Steve protests, calls every Avenger and stages an intervention, but none of that succeeds. But when he and Bucky go out for lunch with Sam, Sam says, “Just let the guy do it, Cap. I know it’s ridiculous, but it’s his way of showing that you guys are his family.”

Steve looks over at Bucky, and Bucky simply shrugs, “I don’t mind. As long as I’m getting married to you.” He takes Steve’s hand and squeezes it affectionately, and Steve turns to smile at him.

Sam Wilson thinks becoming friends with these two is a huge life mistake.

 

The days after that, however, it just gets more insane.

God knows that it’s not typical for a wedding to be planned in a week, let alone such an extravagant one. Pepper takes them out to look at samples of flowers, napkins, tablecloths and decorations (Steve has to choose between off-white and paper white tablecloths, he’s not even sure why it matters). Natasha brings them to Tony’s designers to get fittings done (Bucky looks really good in a tuxedo). And Sam takes them to jewelers to get their fingers sized and their rings made (Steve designs the rings himself, and Bruce gives him advice on how to make Bucky’s stick to his metal finger).

If these miscellaneous are bearable, the rest aren’t—He and Bucky have to personally sign the invitations, memorize names of the important persons, and talk to the press. Bucky starts to break down bit by bit, whenever he hears accusations about his past and has to smile politely and brush it off. And Steve hurts a little more every time he does.

And because Steve Rogers is a fucking sap when it comes Bucky Barnes, he takes his left hand and stands in front of him to fend off intrusive questions, and he holds him close when they’re alone in bed at night and doesn’t let go.

They don’t have wedding anxieties, no. They don’t need a ceremony to prove their loyalty to each other, and they don’t need words to spell out their love for the world to hear. In Steve’s mind, if death can’t do them apart, nothing else can. But it’s as if vows and the rings on their fingers would somehow make it even harder for anyone to take them away from each other. And he wants that more than anything.

 

Everything eventually goes down on July 3rd.

Natasha and Clint come to their apartment early that morning. Natasha yanks Steve out of bed and Clint nudges Bucky gently on the shoulder (slightly scared that he might go into Soviet assassin mode and kill him) to wake him up. The two supersoldiers are confused, to say the least.

“Don’t think I can’t kill you, Barton.” And Clint cringes, only a bit.

“What’s going on?” Steve yawns while rubbing his eyes.

“Aw man, you have to get ready for your bachelor’s party.”

“Parties.” Nat corrects.

“That’s right, two parties. You guys have to have separate ones, because you’re not allowed to see each other tonight.”

“What? What do you mean we can’t see each other tonight?” Now Steve’s fully awake.

“We’ll set up separate rooms for you in the tower, don’t worry. But you know, tradition is tradition. So get going, boys.”

“Wait, that means we have to sleep separately. But Bucky…”

Bucky puts a hand on his shoulder and Steve shuts up immediately.

Natasha and Clint stare quizzically at them.

“Nothing. Thanks guys. Let’s pack our stuff, Stevie.” Bucky smiles faintly, and Steve swallows, unsure of what to do.

So Steve doesn’t tell the truth. He doesn’t tell Natasha that Bucky would have nightmares without him, and that he would startle awake thinking Bucky’s still dead and the Winter Soldier was only a dream.

Steve doesn’t say anything because Bucky doesn’t seem to want to, but everything starts to feel wrong.

 

The parties aren’t so bad at the beginning.

On Bucky’s end, there’s Tony, Clint, Maria, Pepper, Pietro and Wanda, which is bound to be interesting. On Steve’s end, there’s only Sam, Natasha, Bruce and Thor, who always shows up last minute as a surprise. Thankfully, Nat doesn’t try to hire a stripper, and Thor brings the best and strongest Asgardian wine. Steve finally manages to get a bit tipsy for the first time since 1943.

“Congratulations, my dear friend.” Thor pats on Steve’s back, “I thought I’d never see the day when you’d find someone. But I’m sure that Mr. Barnes would be a great companion for you. Speaking of which, why haven’t I seen Mr. Barnes?”

“We have a tradition on Earth, Thor,” Bruce explains, “The two people getting married can’t see each other before the big day.”

“Why?”

“Otherwise it’s bad luck.” Pietro shows up all of a sudden. He grabs a bottle of the wine and disappears faster than a blink of an eye.

“Ah, that’s some curious Midgard custom.” The blond god contemplates, “Although I suppose any bad fortune would be very undesirable at this point, since two people have come so far together.”

“In the case of Cap and Soldier, that’s 70 years. I don’t know about Asgard, Thor, but 70 years on earth is quite fucking long.” Natasha sighs.

“Well, to Cap and Barnes then.” Sam laughs and raises his glass.

“No, to Steve and Bucky.” Natasha looks at Steve, and Steve smiles, sincerely this time.

And as he gulps down the wine, Steve thinks, of course, Bucky has always believed that sort of stuff. And he sees the point of it, too. After all, they have been through so much and any additional obstacles would simply be too much.

But Steve can’t quite bring himself to care at this moment. He hasn’t seen Bucky since the morning, which is actually the first time they’ve been apart for so long since Bucky came back. It doesn’t take too long for Natasha and Sam to get pretty drunk, and they soon start teaching Midgard dirty jokes to Thor. Bruce doesn’t drink and heads back to the Tower pretty early, since he wants the big guy to be on his best behavior tomorrow. So Steve pulls out his phone and calls Bucky.

 

“Hey.” Bucky answers on the second ring. He seems like he’s at least halfway drunk. The loud music and crowd noise sound far away.

“Hey.” Steve can’t help smiling, “How’s your party?”

“Stark does know how to throw a party,” Bucky sighs, “But I’m not quite in the mood for it.”

“Why not? I thought you were always a party animal.”

“You know the whole point of a bachelor’s party is mourn the loss of your freedom, right?” he chuckles, sounding a bit dark, “I’m getting married to the best guy on this planet. I don’t need that goddamn freedom.”

“I don’t either.” Steve sighs happily, “Hey. You wanna come over? We’re in the bar that Nat…”

“…always takes us to, I know. I’m right outside.”

 

“Hi.” Steve grins so wide it almost hurts. He pulls Bucky straight into his arms. With New York’s summer night air surrounding them, it feels like home.

“Jesus, Rogers. I was gone for 12 hours and you’re already suffering?” Bucky teases, “You can’t live without me or something?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I’m marrying you.”

They stay silent for a minute, just listening to each other’s breathing, until Steve breaks the silence.

“I was thinking…” He swallows, unsure of whether it’s really a good idea to bring it up, “If you’d like to get out of here.”

“What, you wanna go home?”

“No…Like, go somewhere. We can get a car and go on a roadtrip, go see the Canyon like we always wanted to, you know?”

“You mean we elope?” Bucky pulls back to look at Steve, a bemused expression on his face. “Are you serious?”

“Never mind,” Steve shakes his head and runs his hand though his hair. “It’s stupid. I mean, they put in so much effort to plan all that and they invited so many people it would be so rude to just…”

“Okay, let’s do it.”

“Wait, what?”

“Let’s elope.” Bucky says, almost nonchalant.

“You mean it?”

“Yeah, you punk. Let’s go see the Grand Canyon.” Bucky laughs, “I just wish you’d said it sooner so we didn’t have to go through all that. Seriously, what’s the difference between off-white and paper white tablecloths?”

 

Because in the end it shouldn’t be about politics, fame or even LGBTQ rights. Marriage is about two people and only the two people. And that's why, Steve thinks, this whole thing felt wrong.

He might be Captain America, but Captain America isn’t getting married. Steve Rogers is.

And normally he might feel the pressure of obligation and responsibility, but not today. The world should know by now, Steve Rogers doesn’t give a damn about duty when Bucky Barnes is involved.

So when Sam and Natasha are both sound asleep on the bar counter, Thor nowhere to be found, Steve takes the ring box out from Sam’s backpack. He calls Jarvis to ask for a cancelation of all reservations and leaves a message for Tony, because he may or may not feel slightly guilty. And to his surprise as well as utmost relief, Jarvis doesn’t ask why.

Steve packs his shield, and Bucky packs his favorite guns and grenades. They don’t try to avoid weapons now because fighting is part of who they are, and there’s no use in denying. But Steve also sticks his sketchbook and pencils in his backpack, and Bucky brings his Polaroid (Bucky doesn’t like memory cards, because everything can be deleted way too easily).

They drive, all the way west. The convertible they rent is old and kinda rusty, which is probably why Steve picked it out in the first place. The warm summer breeze is messing up Bucky’s newly cut hair. The ballad playing in the radio sounds British, the voice of the singer so bright and carefree.

 

Everything turns out to be extremely simple from then on.

They settle in a small motel near the West Canyon. On the first day of their visit, they meet a nice old couple that asks Bucky to take some photos for them. Bucky happily obliges, and then takes some more with his Polaroid and offers them the printouts.

They find out soon enough that Steve is _that_ Steve and Bucky is _that_ Bucky.

And the guy, Ron, happens to be a minister on vacation from San Francisco.

Life is bizarre sometimes.

 

They get up before dawn, put on the best clothes they brought, and head out to the viewing platform where Ron and his wife, Marsha, are waiting.

When they get there, there’re signs of red on the horizon, and the dark clouds start to dissipate. Before them lies the handiwork of mother nature, something much grander than their own existence, a fine masterpiece millions of years in the making. The outlines of the rocks and the shapes imprinted on the wall of the Canyon are etchings of time, and all their yesterdays made them what they are.

They hold each other’s hands like they do every day. The vows aren’t long. “Till the end of the line,” they say, at the end, to replace ‘till death do us apart’.

Because they know, and Death should know by now too, that he can’t tear them apart no matter how much he tries.

Marsha is holding their ring box. The bands are platinum, with detailed Celtic Knot designs hollowed out. When Steve slides the ring onto Bucky’s finger, he doesn’t tremble. But Bucky shakes violently, and Steve stills his hand and warms the cold metal with the heat of his palm, the way he always does.

And when the sun finally rises and its bright light flames up the sky, they are kissing. Because why not? Sure, they’re used to living out heroic journeys and tragic love stories, but that’s a past life now. So let them have a cheesy romantic comedy moment for a brand new beginning. Because through all the darkness, pain, and cold, they still found each other.

They found a way home.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud.  
> Hope you enjoyed it :) and please leave a comment if you did.


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